Soul Medicine with Denise Leicester

While I love music in all of its forms & listen to it at home, when walking or travelling, I somewhat tend to ‘rebel’ against it during the yoga or meditation practise, preferring the combination of stillness & silence instead. Having said that, there are always occasions when keeping an open mind leads to a discovery that can be overwhelming in its soulful depth & recent presentation of Soul Medicine by Denise Leicester, founder of Ila, managed to leave all of the attendees in a blissful state of trance.

Soul Medicine is the culmination of something Denise has been working on for over a decade. Music & singing has always been central to her life & work and after years of developing treatments for Ila, she has become increasingly fascinated by the healing elements of naturally-tuned music. Since ancient times music’s ability to heal has been widely recognised & accepted. Soul Medicine, vibrational remedies through the medium of music, is a heartfelt collection of meditative pieces, developed on the tuning methods (432Hz, a ‘beat of our planet’, rather than conventional 440), that are themselves based on specific sonic frequencies that occur in nature. With regular listening you can expect to have decreased stress levels & a boosted resilience to the hectic pace of life, as the music that Denise created with her wonderful team of talented musicians embodies the ‘frequency of harmony’.

On 10th May, thanks to Denise & her team, I was able to experience a concert unlike any other. Hosted at Fitzrovia Chapel, a hidden jewel in the centre of a busy city, it offers a serene place for reflection & holds a very special place for Denise. The chapel used to be part of the now demolished Middlesex hospital, where Denise used to work as a nurse. At times of heartbreak, loss & exhaustion, she used to come to the chapel with her patients, as well as on her own, so assembling her friends, colleagues & members of the press at Fitzrovia Chapel to launch her very personal new project into the world had a particular meaning. Along with Dr Zulia Frost, Denise explained to us how 432Hz frequency works & her purpose behind Soul Medicine, a new platform for music, which combines the powers of science & soul & offers a profound positive effect on the nervous system.

‘The therapeutic aspects of these sounds & the music are very exciting’

Hearing sound is one of our primal senses – the first developed in the womb & the last lost when we die. Sound can relax, alert, soothe, inform & transport us. Building on this understanding, Denise created Soul Medicine in collaboration with composer Tom Simenauer, to promote wellbeing & cellular balance simply by listening to the 432 musical pitches. She ‘tested’ it on Ila therapists who not only liked the music, but felt ‘supported’ by it, while administering treatments to the clients. She tried it during one of her charitable talks with women who have faced vast adversity in life, including physical & substance abuse. What was supposed to be a five or ten minute talk in front of a somewhat hostile & cynical audience, turned into an hour-long one, after which women looked & felt completely different, as through music they managed to re-connect to their inner power of self-nourishment. Denise’s vibrational remedies were inspired by the beauty of vulnerability & just being in the moment in time, instead of racing from A to Z.

‘Soul Medicine helps to bypass the mind’s habit of clinging to fear. Instead it allows us to access the heart’s energy of love, that pure, eternal & undiluted essence of our being’

Seeing the healing elements of sound & vibration with her clients, Denise researched the impact of particular music & sounds with Dr Lesley Parkinson & Dr Zulia Frost, who gave a scientific talk before the concert, including the presentation on the collated results of clinically-controlled studies that demonstrated the following:

By combining music with Denise’s outwardly voice (during the concert she was joined by Tom, her stepdaughter & a violin player) singing in sanskrit syllables & frequency, we got immersed into the healing modality that quietens the mind down & makes you see the world clearly & in perfect colour. Even Denise own disposition has changed during her singing, as she radiated a child-like innocence, somewhat fully immersed in the natural beauty of the moment. Surrounded by cooling & healing walls of Fitzrovia Chapel, the audience fully engaged with Denise, some silently, some echoing quietly her singing. Some sat with eyes closed, others drank the atmosphere in with eyes wide-open. When the last sound vibration evaporated into the atmosphere, it left behind pure, positive energy, that seemed to have multiplied exponentially.

Soul Medicine launched with four tracks, each with a clear explanation of their intended benefits. Easy to download, listeners can match their needs with the appropriate vibrational remedy.

Being Held is recommended for deep relaxation & to aid sleep. It is also prescribed to help through a period of grief or for those who have experienced trauma.

Being Present is prescribed during a period of illness & to help build resilience.

Being Loved awakens loving qualities such as patience, kindness, truth, healing, sweetness, forgiveness & vulnerability, focusing on the Sanskrit sound ‘ma’, the healing syllable known as the Hridyaya. it is a very pure & sacred sound that awakens qualities of love, such as patience, kindness, truth, healing, sweetness, forgiveness & vulnerability.

I was completely transfixed by the beauty of this track during the ‘live’ performance & still struggle to put it into worlds, such was its potency & emotional vibrancy that seeped into the body & made me feel comfortably cocooned in the loving embrace.

Being Lifted is prescribed to lift mood especially at times of hormonal change.

To enhance the sacredness of the space where you listen to the tracks, Denise has created two mists to enhance the listening experience. Inner Calm, a vetiver meditation mist & Inner Smile, a jasmine meditation mist. I have been trying Inner Calm during my meditation practise & its effect is more powerful, possibly due to the concentration of ingredients enhanced by Denise’s skill as therapist & formulator.

Having had the privilege to experience the ‘live’ performance, I can only say that it touched every person in the audience. We all ended up hugging each other, reflecting, sharing, smiling, laughing. We basked in the serene atmosphere and the gratitude glow from the music that touches heart, soul & mind in an unseen, but deeply profound way.

The music remedies are £6 per track and £20 for the album, which is being launched with the mists exclusively with Victoria Health. The mists start from £32. For more information about Soul Medicine, please click here